My brief time at drive21 was one of the most deeply disappointing professional experiences I’ve had in my 25 years of working. I had been extremely excited about joining their team and anticipated finally having the necessary resources to help revamp the corporate program I had been working under as a vendor for the past three years. I was looking forward to what the CEO told me about drive21 having the specialized knowledge and dedicated resources to be able to easily handle this type of work after the initial transition period.
The reality turned out to be much different. I had thought that the difficult working situation I was in at my previous company couldn't have been worse, and I was unfortunately surprised to find that it could actually be much, much worse. Those of us who had transitioned with the account to drive21 received no real onboarding, no training in drive21 project management practices and resources, and constant criticism from an emotionally abusive director who had no interest in learning about their new client’s expectations from the very people who were brought on board to help with the transition. (This director was fired soon after I left.)
Very quickly it became clear to me that, while I had previously been quite successful handling a great deal of project management scope in a program management role, this was going to be a drastically different experience. I felt sidelined from all of the work I had enjoyed in my previous position, my historic knowledge was not being utilized in any meaningful way, and the anxiety and burnout issues I had been dealing with at my old company were now only getting worse from an even more chaotic work environment.
In order to protect my health, I made the decision to quit after about two months. This was during the early time of the pandemic and I did not have another job lined up, but I could tell that my mental and emotional well-being would only decline further if I stayed.
Am I angry? No. But I do feel used, as if my buy-on was integral to getting that corporate client account for the company, and once they had it, I was no longer necessary. I had joined drive21 with hopes that this would be a great company that I could grow with for a long time. The reality was that I was not told the truth ahead of time about drive21’s available resources, workplace culture, or their intentions for the account. Even if I factor in a sudden rushed transition of the account between vendors, and the unexpected disruption caused by the pandemic, I don’t believe things would have been much different. If anything, the pandemic provided additional cover for the disorganization taking place with the transition.
TLDR: The CEO overpromised and underdelivered to this former employee.
